Black Velvet Seductions Romance Blog

Why Are You Writing?

 It is a question I have asked myself.  Along with, do we just right for ourselves?

I guess what prompted sole searching was this….  I have a friend, actually a life model from my art class that has written a rather nice book. It is a good story, a rather nice romance. I thought of BVS and had her pass it along to Laurie Sanders.  Chatting further, the life model told me that she didn’t want to do revisions, that as far as she was concerned the book was finished. I knew there and then that the book, unless vanity published, would not see the light of day. It is not enough to write, even if you write well. The stories need to stand on their own in the market place and they need to be commercial enough to sell.  It makes sense in my opinion to make the stories you write as market driven as possible by aiming at the market. Writing for your self is great fun, but writing with a view to publication is quite a different matter.  I’m sorry if that turns our life passion into a commodity, but it is a commodity when you stop and think about it.  If you intend to get your words in print. If our books were a can of beans with an interesting label and a pretty picture people might stop and look at it. They might even pick it up. But when they read that the beans were strawberry jelly and curry flavored, they would put them down again. I wouldn’t advocate making the product bland just for it to fit in. I am more in favor of individual, unique, thought provoking, and challenging writing. However, it makes sense to cut out the things that don’t work from the outset.   If you are told that wimpy beach bum heroes just don’t sell, and that rugged dependable types do sell  it kind of makes sense to do more of what the consumer wants (rugged dependable type heroes) and less of what they do not want (wimpy beach bum type heroes).   

I suppose as I have asked the question I should answer it for myself.

Why do I write?  I love it..  it is as frustrating as heck but I love writing and drawing, it is my life.  And I suppose I am optomistic enough to think someone might be interested to read and look at the work I do

Happy writing and make every word count

Ric

With all JC McCabe’s posts about her trip to North Haven, which is the setting of her romantic suspense, Killer Caregiver, I thought I would take the liberty of posting the cover art image.

The cover art is unique in that it was the first BVS cover done by two aritsts, Richard Savage and Kara Elsberry combining both stock photographic images and original art.

Hello everyone!  I am getting very excited as I get closer to North Haven.  I read the temperature is going to be about 77 degrees and this is great!  I will try and see if I can post pictures of this beloved island and we can imagine where the house my character is staying in.  My character is recovering from an attack from a sexual sadist and the FBI has advised she be declared publicly brain-dead until the killer is captured.  Her father sends her to North Haven to be cared for by a old friend of the family and even though this family friend Kurt knows it is right to take care of Abby in her time of her need, he also knows it isn’t right to want her as he does…..she’s bruised and in no shape to handle his advances especially when he’s a married man…

Come and join me on this magical trip to a island two angels told me about a long, long time ago when I got so close to this island…..I could almost touch it and then at the last second I had to watch the ferry depart without me.

crestfallen and heartbroken I made my way back to a BB where two angels were waiting to console me and dry my tears by offering to tell me all about North Haven and to answer any questions I had to ask……….

Miracles happen my dear friends.  Never give up.  Just believe that the talent inside of you was given for a reason.  To share with others and this may not be the time yet to share but that’s cause its not our time.  That belongs to the Giver of your precious gift.  Don’t fret.  He knows His gifts are given for the world to see.  And just when you think that ferry is never ever gonna come back for you….it will.  I know.  I’m going cause it is my time……….Share this with me………..JC MCCabe 

I’m back and I’m sharing this great news about my trip to North Haven
Maine. This has been a desire of mine to visit this small island off
the coast of Maine since the second I had the idea to write Killer
Caregiver. Of course this idea came to me 20 years ago when I looked
off my high deck and said to myself boy this would be something if
when I looked down and saw water instead of grass. Yep. That was the
seed planted and from there I started asking myself where should
this novel take place? Somewhere with water and…cliffs! High
cliffs…… …Maine. rocky shores, cliffs and then ….what? Well,
where in Maine? I didn’t know so I called the chamber of commerce in Maine and the some
of the suggestions were bed and breakfasts, busy tourist areas and
then private islands….well, at that time I wasn’t sure who, what
where why or when but just those words…Private Island, germinated
the seed and baby, I had the where! A private island in Maine.
Why? Well, my smile kind of took a downward slope and that’s not a
good sight to see for someone who was battling an MS flare up at that
time. I was having trouble walking and my mouth was numb and
tingling and when I talked I slurred my words but the good news (if
you could believe that) was the symptoms were not life threatening.
Yeah, right, tell that to my three little babies who needed their
mother to hold them, feed them, change them and walk with them! Not
a good time but things could be worse and yes they usually are for
the princess who lives in a faraway castle cause her bed has a
mattress that she just can’t get comfortable in……okay, okay
I ‘ll stick to the subject!! Anyway, where was I? Yes. MS, the
island Maine. Okay. So I had the location. Now why would I need to
have a character on a private island? is she rich? Nope not in my
books. Well.not at first…hmm. Sick? Please! I am sick and I
don’t need to write about it not then…….maybe later, but not
then! So, why the private island? She’s hiding!!! But from what???
A murderer? thief? No…someone who has hurt her……..but she
survived. A rapist…well it rhymes with rapist…a sadist!!! yep!
that’s how i came up with sadist!!!!
So now we have a private island in Maine, North Haven and a heroine
who has been attacked by a sadist…and the rest as they say can be
discovered in my soon to arrive romatic suspense called Killer
Caregiver. Check it out and my blog on Black velvet Seductions
whewn  I travel to North Haven and see thre private island where my
characters will roam the rocky shores and make love on water drenched
jettys. Oh there’s terror behind every rock once you open this book
and I have to say heartbreak as well….Survivors still suffer until
the fat lady sings…and honey she ain’t even close to closing her
mouth…until the final i is dotted…… ……..Thanks for giving
this a look and iIhope to hear and see all of you when Killer
arrives.   Have a great night,  be well, happy and blessed! I’ll check in with you again I begin my journey and you can feel my excitement when the ferry pulls in to my beloved island.  I can see it now, come with me and we’ll discover it together!  My journey begins on Saturday August 2, 2008.  I’m counting the days! I’ll stop in tomorrow to chat!  have a great week! 
……… .All the best to all of you, JC MCCabe  www.jcmccabe.blogspot.com 
you……… ..Love, Janice www.jcmccabe. blogspot. com
__._,_.___

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If you are an author who enjoys attending conferences, or you are an author who likes the learning at conferences but you don’t like the expense of attending them, the MUSE Online Conference might be just your thing. There are workshops on about every conceivable topic and every coceivable genre. All of the workshops are free. It’s a great event. I taught a workshop there last year and met a lot of wonderful authors…some of whom read this blog and will recognize themselves.

Heres the info for those who are interested

***********************

Please pass this email to all your writing buddies and let them know
that registration for the Muse Online Writers Conference is now open.

DEADLINE: September 1st, 2008.

Don’t miss this annual FREE conference offering you tons of FREE
workshops and chat workshops for one entire week.

HELD: October 13 - 19, 2008.

SITE: http://www.themuseonlinewritersconference.com/

Please click on REGISTRATIONS and register today.

If for some reason you have difficulty registering, feel free to email
me at: museitupeditor@ yahoo.ca (You will need to remove the space after the at sign).

Thank you

Lea Schizas
http://www.leaschizas.com

I’ve had a couple of exceptionally busy weeks, followed by a couple of weeks trying to whip the massive piles of email that accumulate in my absence into shape. Because of the uge amounts of email and the concern that I might miss someone’s email claiming their prizes I have not announced any new Free Book Friday winners for about four weeks. The email war is nearing the end so I am announcing 10 new Free Book Friday winners this evening.

Here is the list of lucky folks

f150eng
egille1677
coolbreezekaz
stacy_stffrd
happinessisreading
kkeller9
scrtsbpal
gwiz10
linda_bass
pauline_clrk

If your name is on the list email Laurie Sanders to claim your prize.

If you’ve checked the list and you didn’t find your name don’t feel too bad. We have drawings every Friday (or at least FOR every Friday) and you have many more chances to win. You ARE entered aren’t you?

To enter our Free Book Friday drawings simply subscribe to the Black Velvet Seductions free readers newsletter. You will remain entered for the drawings for as long as we continue to have them.

Congrats to the winners!

AuthorIsland.com is turning two this year and to celebrate they have teamed up with a bunch of their authors and publishers to offer up two Amazon Kindle ebook readers. Visit Author Island for more details.

They are also giving away a book a day on their site and have information on dozens of other contests. Check them out at AuthorIsland.com

I heard about this online conference for authors who are not going to RWA’s conference this year and thought that the authors here might find the information useful so I am passing it along. I am not teaching at this workshop. Here’s the scoop.

PERMISSION TO FORWARD GRANTED

Not going to the RWA Conference? The Romance Divas annual Not Going
to Conference Conference will make you feel a bit less deprived!
Amazing workshops, a star-studded guest list and awesome giveaways,
all right here on the Diva forum! Don’t miss it! Best of all, it’s
FREE!

All you have to do is register (also free!) to become a member on the
Romance Divas website.

http://www.romancedivas.com

Watch for the special NGCC workshop areas on the general forum and in
the Steamy section!

Here’s a bit of a schedule update for the Q&As and Workshops…

Wednesday, July 30

Paula Guran, Editor, Juno Books
Q&A on Creating Kick a** Heroines

Laurie Rauch, Editor, Samhain Publishing
Workshop on What Happens After the Contract (aka Editors are People
Too!)
*Laurie will be at that other conference that I think a few people
may be going to so we’ll be posting for her and she’ll pop in to
answer questions that may arise when she can tear herself away from
all the horribly boring goings-on

Thursday July 31

Joyce Hart, Hartline Literary
Q&A on Inspirational Romance Stories and the Inspy Market

Sandra Schwab, Historical Romance Author
Workshop on Historical Accuracy and Anachronisms

Friday, August 1

Yolanda Sfetsos, Author of Guarded by Stone
Q&A on Paranormal and Urban Fantasy World Building

Katie MacIver, KatieDidDesign
Workshop on Website Design and Color Selection

Saturday, August 2

Joey W. Hill, Erotica Author
Workshop on Plotting Erotica and Erotic Romance

Rhonda Stapleton, Editor and Author
Workshop on Style and Voice
*Rhonda will also be at that other conference.

No, sadly we are not giving it away in this space, though we are discussing possibly of doing that at some point. I was following a link in a piece of email and reading another blog and found this link. To enter you need to visit Michelle Gagnon’s site and sign up for her newsletter.  It looks like some other nice gifts are given as well as the Kindle reader.

Good luck to those who enter!

I just returned from a trip to visit family and have spent the day puttering around the place catching up (some) on e-mail, though there is enough of that to keep me going for a couple more days. I enjoy some of the forums on Amazon, and have a few of them set to send me email when new posts are made. Today I had a few emails from posts that had been made since I returned home. There was one post which sort of summed up reading for me. Here’s a link to the post. What the author says is that her own imagination is better than watching a movie.

I’m not sure why exactly, but that made an impact on me. Maybe because for me the act of reading is very much about imagination. When I read I am imagining the scene the author describes, the character’s actions within that scene, the way that the character moves, the sound of his or her voice. For me the experience is like watching a movie, except that it seems multi-dimensional to me in a way that movies are not.

It could be that I am just a lazy movie watcher. It could be that when I watch a movie I only see what is there on the screen, I don’t set my imagination to work on what might be behind the scenes. But with reading, the experience is multi-sensual. I can imagine the tastes, smells, feelings described within the scene. With movies my experience is only visual and auditory…which leaves out a lot of the experience.

I also like the on demand nature of reading, the fact that reading material is pretty much unlimited in type and scope. There is something written to meet most any taste that anyone has. With movies the pickings seem slimmer. It’s hard to find erotic romance which contains BDSM or spanking in the movies, unless you go to the places which sell erotic movies, then most of them are flat and unemotional…more about the physical activity than the growth of the relationship. With books it is relatively easy to find that type of material…or any other type.

What about you? How does reading compare to movie watching for you? Do you prefer reading to movies or movies to reading?

I am certain it won’t come as any surprise which camp I am in.